This Month's Headlines:

Editor's Letter
 

As summer unfolds, those of us at The Gettysburg Experience are eager to offer a new issue of articles of historical interest, summer recipes, and our newly updated Calendar of Events, all beginning on page 11.

           

The terrible conflict at Gettysburg is shown on a personal level in The George Spangler Farm: “The Horrors of War”, beginning on page 21. A biographical glimpse of one Union leader is chronicled in “Virtually Annihilated”: Colonel Roy Stone at Gettysburg, beginning on page 31. Vivid pictures of the battle are written by those who were there in “From One Bloody Scene to Another”: First Hand Accounts, beginning on page 39.  Read More >

   

 

The George Spangler Farm: The Horrors of War

Nestled between fields and timber, a stone house and red bank barn still stand just south of Gettysburg. The attractive farm was owned for much of the nineteenth century by George Spangler, who lived there from 1848 until his death in 1904. All was not pristine and pleasant for George and his family, however, during the summer of 1863.

           

George Spangler was the eldest son of farmer and prolific property owner Abraham Spangler and his wife, Mary. George was just a youth when he lost his mother, and his father soon remarried. In all, Abraham Spangler was the father of eleven children. It was George’s half-brother Henry, the eldest son of the second marriage, who inherited much of his father’s estate. Henry’s farm is the one located on what would become the fields of Pickett’s Charge in the summer of 1863. The brothers lived only a few miles apart.  >Read More

"Virtually Annihilated": Colonel Roy Stone at Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg is famous for many reasons. It was the worst battle involving Americans of any war – including World Wars I and II. It proved to be the turning point of the Civil War, and is known as the High Tide of the Confederacy. It was a battle that happened by accident – neither Robert E. Lee nor the new Union army commander George Meade had planned to fight there, and were not even present for the first day’s battle. A lesser-known fact is that Gettysburg is also the battle – at least on the first day – where, for a time, the Confederate forces actually outnumbered the Union troops. The reason cavalry commander John Buford engaged with the Southern troops early in the morning of July 1, 1863 was to buy time for Union infantry forces to arrive. Both sides did not have their armies at full strength on the first day, but more Confederates were engaged at Gettysburg’s first day than Union men.

           

This mathematical fact was a significant reason why the Confederates prevailed on the first day at Gettysburg. The numbers of killed, wounded, and missing on that day among all the combatants were excessively high. Several brigades, North and South, lost large percentages of their troops. Among the unfortunates was a Pennsylvania Brigade that fought along McPherson’s Ridge, led by Colonel Roy Stone, a twenty-six-year-old engineer-turned-soldier.  >Read More

"From One Bloody Scene to Another": First Hand Accounts

The Battle of Gettysburg has been documented by more than any other conflict of the Civil War. The three-day fight was witnessed and fought by many thousands, some of whom wrote down their experiences. Here are some of them:

           

July 1st, 1863: “The bullets soon began to whiz. They have such a bewitching, embarrassing tone!...Thrice struck by bullets myself, all harmless except one which pierced my left arm at the elbow. I walked, and bled, and fought…The onslaught, the beginning of the conflict was terrible. One sees pictures of battles; they give no adequate idea of the carnage. The moan, the roar and the tumult are absent. You hide from one bloody scene only to be introduced to another and more horrible one.” – Private Francis Stofflet, 153rd Pennsylvania, Barlow’s Knoll.1 >Read More

Editor's Corner:  Origins

With the recent election of a new pope at Vatican City, the news has been rife with the meaning of the word “conclave” – an act in Rome that rarely occurs – and the explanation of how the word came into existence. The word comes from the Latin expression meaning, “with key”, suggesting the importance of the elective council being locked away until they reached a majority decision as to who will become the next pope.

           

It’s always interesting to know the origins of words that we use. Here are a few of them, and their equally engrossing beginnings:

           

Tip: Whether leaving an extra monetary boon to a server at a restaurant, or giving succinct advice to one who may or may not wish it, a tip is supposed to be generous from the giver and a boon to the receiver. It’s interesting to note that so many of the aged generation aren’t as keen to leave tips in money, but eager to share wordy advice to the rising generation. Also, populaces around the world are not eager to either leave tips or give them – monetarily that is. Perhaps that’s because the word’s provenance is uniquely American, and isn’t that old. The word is actually an acronym for “To insure promptness”. The word began just over a century ago, during Prohibition, when people gathered incognito, and needed quick service. Waiters who gave prompt and efficient service were rewarded with a little extra money. Over the years, tipping has grown exponentially, even with fast-food establishments where no personal service is required. It’s a nice way to say thank you, and also nice to give good advice. We all remember to plant our corn in the spring, though, so no need to keep offering that tidbit.  >Read More

Recipes